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Saturday, November 29, 2008

Our family was in desperate need of a get away this past Thanksgiving weekend! We had our turkey, we had our family gathering, now we needed to get the heck out of dodge and go on a ROADTRIP!!! (you must yell "roadtrip" like a frat boy when you say that word :))

When my husband and I were "courting" we were quite the roadtrippers. Our longest and most debaucherous roadtrip was from San Francisco to N'Orleans via Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and Austin, TX. It's debatable if I'll ever share all the details of that trip with my kids... but now it was time for our kids to get a taste the adventures of the road!

Ok. I admit, I'm being a bit dramatic. We really were only heading out of town for an overnight... but we left the house with only a small bag, and no hotel reservations for the night. We were really living on the edge. ;)

Our destination... the gold country of California. Why? Because it's beautiful in fall, and it's in range of a good overnight destination from our house! Now, I think everyone in the Bay Area had the same idea as us, or else they just thought that getting in their cars and driving on the freeway was how they would spend their weekend... so the traffic was a nightmare.

In true roadtrip fashion... we got off the main highway, and cut our way up to the Sierra hills through back towns and country roads... with our GPS/traffic maps guiding the way. (Yes, the GPS kindof kills the "adventuresome" aspect of the roadtrip, I know.) We had a great time pointing out to the kids things that you can't see off I-80...

Once up in the hills, we headed to Jackson, CA. It was already evening, but the town was a buzz. Holiday festivites were in the air. Lights lined the streets and the shops were buzzing with people. For dinner we headed into Sutter Creek. Even more lights, even more decorations. It was a great way to kick off the holiday season.

Here's a window from a shop called "Tomorrow's Heirlooms" in Sutter Creek, CA. Very cute place.This was in the window of the ice cream parlor in Sutter Creek (featured in Sunset Magazine.) What a great place. Not only was the ice cream de-lish, but the owner even headed over to the old fashioned piano and played some tunes for us. Then he plugged in the mechanical Jingle Bells song and away the piano played.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

It's that time of year again... it's holiday craft fair time, and I'm knee deep into it! I'm so fortunate to have a studio to work in, but this time of year, I have spread out to every corner of our house to create... a table here, a table there... glitter here, paper cutting there... my husband is so tolerant :)I'm a relative newbie to this whole craft fair craziness... which is quite intimidating when many of my fellow artist friends have been doing this for years. I'm sure as the years pass, I'll get a little better organized... a little ahead of myself, and not need to spread out to every corner of the house. I doubt it!I found a great way to pass time while I was engrossed in production was listening to craft podcasts like Crafty Pod and Craft Sanity. I know it's totally geeky, and a little sad, but I found a little taste of that craft community while I listened to the interviews and heard other crafters stories... I was also very inspired by all of their stories of success.

I hope your holiday season is just starting, and if you're searching for that perfect gift, head to a craft fair... perhaps you'll find something you just can't resist :)